Improvement in electro-magnetic printing-telegraphs



PATENTED APR; 22, 1856.

A. J. PARTRIDGE. ELECTROMAGNETIC PRINTING TELEGRAPH.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 1.

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A. J. PAETRIDG ELECTROMAGNETIC PRINTING TELEGRAPH.

2 SHBETSSEEET 2.

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UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

A. J. PARTRIDGE, OF SO UTHBRIDGE, ,MASSAOHUSETTS.

IMPROVEMENT IN ELECTRO-MAGNETICPRINTlNG-TE LEGRAPHS.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 14,731, dated April 22, 1856.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, ALBERT J. PARTRIDGE,

of Southbridge, in the countyof Worcester and J State of Massachusetts, have invented an Inn'- proved Electro-Magnetic Printing-Telegraph andldo hereby declare that the following-is a full, clear, and exact description of the same, reference being bad to the accompanying drawings, forming part of this specification, in.

In this telegraph an instrument is employed at every station, which is,both a composing and printing instrument, and is capable ofreceiving communications without printing, and also of making a copy at the station from which the communication is sent. The several instruments of the line are connected by acircuit composed of a single conducting-wire and the ground. A description of one of these instruments will suffice to explain the whole breaker there are arranged two pieces of wire,

it, which form portions of the circuit. Thesev operation of the telegraph.

A is a wooden base which carries the several'parts of the instrument. On the back part of this base is erected a framing,B B O D, whiehcontains the bearings for the horizontal /shaft E of the type-wheel E, and also the bearings for the horizontal shaft F of the barrel F, round which is wound a cord, a, from which is suspended a weight which serves to set the shaft F in motion to transmit motion to the type-wheeland the key-board system. V i

Motion is transmitted from the shaft F, which may be termed the main shaft to the type-wheel'shaft by means of .a large spurwheel, a, on the said main shaft, gearing with 'a smaller wheel, b, on a shaft, b, which shaft carries a large spur-wheel, b, gearing with a smaller wheel, 0, on a shaft, 0, which shaft carries a large spur-wheel, c, gearing with a smaller wheel, 01, on a shaft, d, which shaft carries" a large spur-wheel, d gearing with a smallerwheel, d, on the type-wheel shaft. The shaft 0 also'carries a bevel-toothed wheel, 0, which gears with a smaller bevel-wheel, j, on a horizontalshaft, f, which carries a larger bevel-wheel, j, gearing with a-small bevelwheel, f, on a vertical shady-G, which carries a revolving disk, G, of .wood ornon-conducting material, which occupies thecenter of a stationary horizontal circular key-board, H, which is supportedona stand,- H H H, on the front part of the base A. I

The relative sizes of the bevel-wheels are such' as .to cause the disk G to receive exactly the same number of revolutions as the typewheel, and this causes an indicator or pointer, g, attached to the upper side of the said disk, always to point to a letter or sign of .a fixed alphabet'on the key-board, corresponding to that type of the type-wheel which isin a position to print one. strip of paper, which passes through a pair of feed-rollers, h h, (see Figs. 2 and 5,) the said alphabet on the key-board corresponding of course with the alphabet on the type-wheel. T

ThediskG,which,from theduty' "performs may be termed the circuit-breaker, is pro-" vided on its under surface with a series of teeth or projections, c e, of mctal or other durable material, arranged in a circle concentric to its axis and corresponding in number with the types on'the type-wheel. Under this circuitare shown in Figs. 1, 2, and 4, in the former of which figures the key-board is broken away .to show them. The end of the piece of wired stands in such a position that every tooth e of the circuit-breaker, in passingit, will spring it down and outof contact with the end of the piece 2', which lies across it, and thus break the circuit; but as the teeth severally pass the point of thesaid piece of wire tithe-said point springs up into the spaces between them, and

the wire is thereby allowed to come into contact with'the wire 7} and thus close the circuit In this .way the circuit is broken and again. closed as many times during the revolution of the type-wheel as there are types in the same. By thus breaking and closing the circuit at the instrument at the station from which the communication is being sent the movement of the type-wheel of the instrument or instruments at the receiving station or stations is enabled to be controlled, so as to preserve at all times a proper relation to the key-board system of. the instrument whichis sending, by means of an escapement applied to the typewheel shaft or shafts of the former instrument or instruments, the wheel-j. of the said escape ment (see Figs. 1 and 3) being on the said shaft, and the verge j being attached to the armature j" (see Fig. 3) of a helical magnet, I I, which magnet is always in the circuit. J a

It willbe readily understood that, the escapement-wheel having the same number of teeth as'the number of types on the wheel, the opening and closing of the circuit by thecircuitbreaker of the sending-instrument, acting upon the armature j of each receiving-instrument,

in connection with a spring, j, applied to the armature, will govern the action of the escape-v ment and thus cause the sending and receiving instruments to operate in unison, each being kept in operation by the weight and cord applied to its barrel It.

The escapement of the sending-instrument is never in operation, the verge j being thrown out of gear with the escapement-wheel by mov ing a sliding rod, k, to, which it and the armature j are attached.

In the drawings the verge is shown out of operation.

The operations of forcing the paper in contact with the type-wheel to receive the impression, and of moving the feed-rollers k]: to feed the paper to give the necessary spaces between the letters or signs, are performed through the movements of an armature, l, which is suspended on a center, I, to vibrate between the poles of a helical magnet, J J, and those of a magnet, K K, the said armature forming one arm of a lever of the first order, the opposite.

which magnet is connected withthe wire 1 and through the said wire iand the wire i and the connections of the latter wire, hereinafter de-' scribed, communicates with the pin 12, to which the line-wire connects. The branch circuits, passing through the ma gnets J J and K K, unite again at the pin 12', which is connected by the line-wire with the opposite pole of the battery to the pin 1), and, ac-' cording to whether the current passes through the magnet J J or that K K, either is active. The current, except at the time that one of the keys q g on the keyboard is depressed,

passes throughthe magnet J J and hence at that time the armature l isattracted toward that magnet,as is shown in Fig. 2', but by do pressing any one of thekeys qq upon the keyboard the current is changed, in a manner that will be presently described, to the branch of .4

the circuit containing the magnet K K, which causes the armature to be drawn toward that magnet and causes the pad m of the armaturelever l to force the paper against the typewheel, as shown in Fig. 4,with 'suiiicient force to receiveian impression therefrom,the type being inked to produce the impression by means of an inking-roller, 1', which revolves in contact with it, the said roller being supplied with ink from a roller, 1', which rotates in an ink-trough,

Theab'ove change of current is only instantaneous, it being immediately changed again to the other branch of the circuit containing the magnet J J, which causesthe armatnreto be drawn from the magnet K K t'oward 'J J, thus causing the pad on to be thrown away from the paper, andeausing the pawl n to act on the ratchet-wheel 'n and turn the feed-rollers I far enough to move the paper to a proper position to receive the next impression.

The arrangement for changing the circuit from one magnet to the other and-the manner in which it is operated by the depression of the keys on the key-board of the sending-instru; ment will now be described.

It has already beenstated that the division or branching of the circuittakes place between the pillar P and the pin 11'. g

To the pillar I? is" pivoted ametal arm, a, which has a T-shaped extremity, which is ca.-

pable by a slight vibrating movement of enter,

ing a slit in either. of two small brass blocks,

8 8", which are secured to a slab, L, of ivory or some insulating material, bolted to the framing of the instrument. To theblocks s iscom nected a wire, t, which leads along one side of the slab L and down through a hole, 1', in the base A, and then acrossto a pin,,u', secured in the base, and from thence up througha hole,

.10, to the helix of the magnet J J and to the block 8" is connected a wire, t", which passes through a hole, 12!, in the. base, and thenacross to a pin, a, secured in the base near the pin a, and from thence up througha hole,

10', to connect with the helix of the ranging K K. v a

The arm 8, which may be termed the circuitchanger, is fitted on its under side with an ivory tongue to enter a groove in the loose portion m of a clutch, w m,which is fitted to the typowheel shaft. The two parts of this clutch are constructed with inclined teeth, like ragwheels, so that if the loose portion a: were to turn independently of the shaft, in contact. with the piece m, which is fixed to the shaft, A it would receive a movement longitudinally to the shaft. The loose piece wot the clutch has a a very' light spiral spring, x", appliedto it in such away as to exert just enough force upon it to hold it in contact with the piece a,

but to produce as little friction as possible between them, and it carries-a small fly-wheel, M7, the momentum of which is snflicient to cause a" to continue its revolution :1. short dis- .tance after the type-wheel shaft is suddenly arrested, as itisby the depression of one of the keys q q, as will be presently described. While the revolution of the type-wheel continues uninterruptedly, or with only such slightinterruptions as are produced by the action of theescapement, there is no perceptible-movement of the piece :0 ofthe clutch along the shaft, and the spring as, holding the saidpie'ce a: closely engaged .with the piece w, causes the circuitchanger to remain in contact with the block 8'; but when the type-wheel shaft is'suddenly and positively arrested by the depression of a keylever the loose part of the clutch by the continuance of its revolution moves far enough along the shaft to move the circuit-changer into the slit in the block 8, thus, without breaking the circuit, changing or transferring it from the magnet J J to the magnetK K, and

effecting the printing and feeding movement inscribed upon them an alphabet correspond.

ing to thealphabet of letters and signs on the type-wheel.

.On. the under side ofthe circuit-breaker there is a projection, e" (Shown in Fig. 6, which is an inverted .plan of it detached from the machine,

and shown also in'Figs. 2 and 4.) This projection forms part of a metal bar, c, which is se cured to the wooden disk. The operator, by depressingthe knob of either of the key-levers with his finger, throws up the inner end of that lever, as shown in Fig, 4, to such a position that the revolution of the circuit-breaker will bring the projections in contact with it, and thus cause the circuit-breaker to be arrested. The arrest of the circuit-breaker of the sending-instrument stops the operation of the whole of that instrument, and also prevents the action of the escapement of the receiving-instrument, and consequently stops that instrument also, and thus causes the change of circuit to take place, in the manner before described, through themomentum of the wheel w acting on the clutch.

The arrangement of the keys is such that any key of the'sending-instrument stops the type-wheel of the receiving-instrument in such a position that the type corresponding to the letter or sign marked on that key is in a position to-print. The depression of the key only requires to be momentary, and as soon as the ing the operation of V the telegraph.

knob is'released the sending-instrument commences' its-operation agaiu,- and the circuitbreaker of the sending-instrument setsithe escapement, of the receiving-instrumentinoperation again. It should be observed that when the stoppage of: the circuit-breaker takes place the p'oint of thewire i must be between two of the teeth ce, so as to stop with a closed circuit. It may be here remarked that the armature Z is held steady during the open-- in g and closing of the circuit consequent upon the action of the teeth 6 0 upon the wire thy the weight of the printing-arm I attached to it, whichholds it up toward themagnetjJJ' until the circuit is changed to the magnet K K.

In order to prevent concussion and liability to breakage of the instrument, which might. otherwise result from the sudden stoppage, a

spring-clutch, y y, is employed to drive the shaft 0, one part being fast to the wheel 0,

which is loose on the shaft, and the other being attached to the shaft so as to be capable of sliding thereon without turning. Instead of' this clutch a ratchet and spring-pawl may. I

be employed on this shaft to not before the weight in starting the instrument after a deadstop.

Asignal-key, M, is applied to the instrument represented in the drawings. This key' is not absolutely necessary, but it may be employed for the convenience of calling and ans werin g and forother signals, to save time. An alphabet may be used for'this key, it desired.

Those connections of the circuit throughout the instrument which have not been before described will nowbe explained before explain-' To the pin 11, wherethe line-wire connects,

is connected a wire, .7, running under the base A, first to the fixed pin 10, which serves, when desired, to conductthe circuit through the signal-key, and from-thence to the former of two pins, 8 9, which are connected by a movable metal button, 'y. From the latter pin two wires, 10 11, branch off, the former connecting with the wire 3', and the latter connecting first with the stand of the signal-key and next with the first of two pins, 13 14:, which two 'pins, when the verge is in operation, are connected by a metal button, t, attached to the rod k, which carries the verge, but which, when the verge is thrown out of operation, are disconnected. The wire i connects with the wire 1 as before described, except when the circuitis broken by the action of the circuit-breaker, and V the wire 1 connects with a wire, 15, which connects with the pin 14. From the pin 14 a wire, 16, connects with the helix of the magnet I, from this magnet to the pin 1), where the other connection of the line-wire is made. The connections have been before described, except that there is a button, a, by which the pins u u may be connectedor disconnected.

The modus operandi will now be explained. To send-a message the buttons 3 and u are passes through the circuit-changer s to the blocks. It then passes along through the wire t and magnet J J to the pin 19. The button u'is only closed in sending to prevent the action of the circuit-changer s operating the.

armature l,- but if a copy is required to be taken, the button u-is opened and the magnets JJ and K K act the same as in the receivinginstrument.

I Toreceive a printed communication, the button y is closed and it opened, and the "erge thrown into operation,-which closes the button t. The button .25, when closed, allows the but-. ton 3 to be opened to cut the wires 7: z! out-of circuit, if desired In that case'the screw 2 of the signahk ey should be screwed up so that the circuitwill be made from the point 10 in g the circuit-changer.

, through the signahkeyto the point 13, thence;

through the button tto the point 14, and on to the magnet I I. The course of the circuit from this magnet has been already described.

To receive a copy without printing, the instrument is arranged as above described,-except that the button u is closed to connect thepoints u u", and the communication is read oli' from the indicator g and alphabet surround- I will here state that instead of arranging the-axes of the feed-rollers perpendicularly to the axis of the type-wheel, as desoribed,the'y may be arranged parallel, which would not require sonice a degree of accuracy.

Having thus fully described my invention,

Lwill proceed to state whatIclaim and desire 4 to secure by LettersPatent:

The within-described method of'operating the circuit-changer s to change the circuit by means of the clutch w a and fly-wheel x" attached to the loose part thereof.

ALBERT J. 'rltn'rnnien; Witnesses:

JOHN EDWARDS, DANIEL F. BACON. 

